The Islanders were not too pleased with the officials following Friday night’s 5-3 loss to the Maple Leafs. Several missed calls and a phantom diving call on John Tavares after he had been crosschecked in the face really grinded the gears of the Islanders. Non-more so than Isles assistant coach Doug Weight.

After the officials announced the diving call on Tavares at 16:59 Doug Weight went off on the officials. Angrily screaming at the officials for several seconds before head coach Jack Capuano went over and restrained Weight.

His outburst on the bench would not be his last. After the final buzzer had sounded and the Maple Leafs had secured the win Weight gave one final send off to the officials.

As the players and coaches made their way off the ice Weight took a water bottle off the bench and started spraying water onto the ice. It is unclear as to who the Islanders assistant coach was directing the water at. But it is a safe assumption that it was directed somewhere towards the officiating crew. If that proves to be the case, Weight could be hearing from the league office regarding the matter.

Say what you will about the officials tonight, one thing is quite clear. Doug Weight will not be sending David Banfield or Don VanMassenhoven present this holiday season.

The Islanders lost a tough game against the New York Rangers last night at Madison Square Garden. PA Parenteau and Matt Moulson scored the Islanders only two goals of the night in the 4-2 lost. Tonight the Islanders will get their chance to move past the loss when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Coliseum.

The Leafs are entering tonight’s game fresh off a 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres last night. James Reimer stopped 40 shots in the win. David Steckel, Phil Kessel and Nazem Kadri all scored goals in the Leafs win. Prior to the win, the Leafs were on a three game losing streak.

The leafs enter the holiday matchup against Islanders without the services of Colby Armstrong and Philippe Dupuis, who were both placed on injured reserve this past week. Armstrong is out with a concussion and Dupuis is out with an upper body injury.

No word on who will start in net for the Maple Leafs.

The Islanders will start Evgeni Nabokov tonight. He is 2-8-0 through 10 games and posted a 2.69 goals against average and a .914 save percentage. The Islanders will also feature the same lineup they had during last night’s game against the Rangers.

Last season the Islanders and Maple Leafs split the season. The Islanders won the first and last game; a 2-1 win on October 18, 2010 and a 4-3 win on March 8, 2011. The Maple Leafs won the two middle games; a 5-3 win on February 8, 2011 and a 2-1 win on February 22,2011.

Tonight will be the first time the Islanders and Maple Leafs will meet this season.

Pre-Game Reading:

- The Maple Leafs are hoping to turn around their odd record on the day of Friday. (Globe & Mail)

- The Islanders will face their former head coach, Scott Gordon, for the first time since he was dismissed on November 15, 2010. (Newsday)

- Don’t hold you breath for the Winter Classic to come to New York until at least 2014. (Newsday)

- The Leafs may have a little “Beiber Fever.” He skated with the team during Thursday’s morning skate along with a young man who was part of Make-A-Wish Canada. (Globe & Mail)

- If you haven’t read, here is a very lazy, lets poop on the Islanders, piece put together by the Toronto Star. Enjoy. (Toronto Star)

The Islanders fell to the Dallas Stars 3-2 last night after the Stars came from behind off two unanswered goals in the third period. James Benn’s wrist shot 4:33 into the third period would prove to be the game-winning goal.

The Islanders were outplayed for a majority of the loss and were outshot 29-27.

In his first NHL start of the season Kevin Poulin stopped 26 of 29 shots through 58:41 of ice time. He posted a .926 save percentage in the loss. Calvin de Haan, making his NHL debut, saw 13:01 of total ice time and finished the game with a plus-1 rating.

Loui Eriksson scored midway through the first period to give the Stars a 1-0 lead. Michael Grabner would tie the game at one at the 16:38 mark. Grabner was on the finishing end of a pass from Kyle Okposo.

The score would remain like that until Kyle Okposo gave the Islanders their first lead of the game with less than two minutes left in the second period. Okposo entered the Stars zone and shot the puck from the left hand face-off circle. His shot found its way through Stars goaltender Richard Bachman and Okposo followed through on the play and pushed the puck over the goal line.

The lead would be short lived. 1:07 into the third period Brendan Morrow tied the game on a power play goal scored 10 seconds into the man advantage. Three minutes later Benn scored the game winner.

It is Calvin de Haan who will join the Islanders for tonight’s game. The de Haan call up was made official this morning. Last night reports indicated it would be either de Haan or Aaron Ness who would be called up in the wake of an injury to Steve Staios.

The injury to Staios is being called “an upper body injury” by the team, but reports indicate that he is suffering from concussion like symptoms.

Kevin Shultz of Islanders Point blank is reporting that Jack Capuano is leaning towards pairing de Haan with Dylan Reese due to the Sound Tigers familiarity. This will be de Haan’s first NHL game in his young career.

Also called up was goaltender Kevin Poulin. The call up was in response to Rick Dipietro being placed on injured reserve retroactive to December 3. Poulin will make his season debut tonight when he starts against the Dallas Stars.

The Islanders will have a fresh face on their roster when they take on the Dallas Stars tomorrow night. Newsday’s Arthur Staple reported that either Aaron Ness or Calvin de Haan would be called up due to concussion like symptoms felt by Steve Staios.

Staios will miss tomorrow’s game due to NHL concussion protocol and Staples says that the Islanders may need Ness or de Haan longer than just one game.

Through 22 games de Haan has two goals and six assists for eight points for the Sound Tigers. Ness has appeared in four more games than de Haan and has posted two goals and eight assists for 10 points. Both players are viewed as high-level defensive prospects for the Islanders.

Ryan Strome, the Islanders fifth overall pick in the 2011 NHL draft, made the final roster for the Canadian team that will compete in the 2012 World Junior Championships.

Ryan Strome and Team Canada Will open the tournament against Finland on Monday, December 26, at Rexall Place.

Strom has spent the 2011-12 season with the Niagara Ice Dogs of the OHL. There he has scored 16 goals and contributed 17 assists for 33 points in 24 games. Strome spent a week with the Islanders before he was returned to the Ice Dogs.

Islander fans got their first taste of how talented Strome is during the skills competition of the Blue and White game in July.

Last night's game in Montreal was one the New York Islanders will wish to soon forget.

The Canadiens were able to grab the two points by defeating the Isles 5-3 at the Bell Centre. Don't let the (relatively) close score fool you: This was a mismatch from the opening face-off, and though the Isles would eventually wake up, it'd just be too little, too late.

New York got off to a solid start and even notched the first goal in this contest, a Matt Moulson tally off a gorgeous feed from, who else, P.A. Parenteau, giving the Islanders a 1-0 lead. It was, however, short-lived. Just 1:25 later, Andrei Kostitsyn chipped and chased the puck, beating the Isles' defense and then their goaltender, Al Montoya, to tie the game at one apiece. Not long after their first marker, the Habs would get a second. This time it was Mathieu Darche, who's weak slap shot somehow sneaked through Montoya's pads and into the back of the net, putting Montreal ahead 2-1.

There was no scoring in the middle frame, but plenty of it in the third. P.K. Subban, David Desharnais and Erik Cole combined for a dizzying tic-tac-toe powerplay goal, with the latter finishing off the play. At that point, the Habs were up by two and appeared to be in command of this hockey game.

Fortunately, that notion didn't sit too well with Josh Bailey and John Tavares. Both forwards scored a little over six minutes apart, through hard work and patience with the puck, and just like that, the Islanders had knotted things up.

But it was the Habs who would get the last laugh, as ex-Islander Petteri Nokelainen's slapper got past everyone, including the goaltender, to regain the lead for Montreal. It was just the second goal of the season for Nokelainen and a big one at that. The Isles would get a few more quality scoring chances but could not convert. Hal Gill sealed the deal with an empty-net goal, his first of the year.

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